The Musings of NC Photographer and Clay Artist Sarah Coppola

New work from Indigo Arts, favorite handmade artwork, and art in service related events

On Christmas Eve 2014 I took Indigo, my 11.5 year old black kitty, the namesake of my business, in to the vet for a routine checkup. More like not very routine, because my two cats have always been fairly healthy, so they've not been to the vet very much. But Indigo was looking a bit thinner than normal and it had been a while, plus I had a free coupon for a trip to Banfield.

After some bloodwork and lots of waiting, I found out my sweet kitty was in severe renal failure. The vet was shocked he had been acting normal. I was shocked that I couldn't tell he was so bad. The vet insanely offered euthanasia as one option. And I spent an incredibly depressed Christmas with my family, two hours away from my kitties. One site that gave me a lot more hope after the abysmal demeanor of the vet was Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease. It gave me hope and also had a ton of great resources so I didn't feel quite so helpless.

A couple of days after Christmas we went in for a full day of IV fluids. And then I was told to give him subcutaneous fluids twice a week. He was NOT having it, and after having the vet tell me to bring him in and pay $15 each time for them to do it, I turned back to Tanya's site and found this simple contraption to make it easier. It worked, though now, a month later, he's getting worse and he's becoming more difficult.

Indigo has been with me more than any other living being over the last 12 years. I raised him from a 2 lb kitten and he's been my cuddly companion ever since, there by my side when I'm upset, feeling lonely, or having a bad day. He's like my child, so when I was referred to a specialty vet hospital and told that if we could figure out what is wrong and treat him for a few different things I may have another couple good years for him, I felt there was no question. I had to do what I could to make him feel better and have more time with him.

We're two weeks into the treatment now and things have not improved much. I am getting poorer and poorer with each massively expensive visit and while his anemia only gets marginally better and he seems slightly worse. We still have a few weeks of anemia shots and antibiotics, though, so I'm still holding on to hope that he will improve.

All that being said, I am trying hard to promote my artwork and make some money to cover all of the vet expenses. I have great gifts for Mother's Day, graduation and birthdays.